Thanks to Qiao Yan's careful planning, the wedding went off without a hitch.
October 6th, a sunny day, auspicious for all affairs.
At 8 minutes past 10 in the morning, the groom, his groomsmen, and a large group of people arrived at the bride's home.
Nian Suian and the others had been at Yuan Yuan's house since early morning. During the red envelope tossing, she managed to snatch two with her quick hands.
Everything was perfect, except for when the bride was teased for not being able to cry as she left her family home.
"I'm too happy, why should I cry!" She had been overjoyed since the night before.
Yuan Yuan's parents couldn't bear to look at their unimpressive daughter, their usual sadness and reluctance to part with their daughter significantly diminished.
After leaving the house, everyone followed the bridal sedan chair. Qiao Peipei recorded a video and sent it to Shen Huaizhi, telling him she wanted to get married like this too.
Shen Huaizhi only replied with "Okay" and nothing else. He silently took note of the style in the video, adding it to the previous lawn wedding, church wedding, and travel wedding ideas Qiao Peipei had sent before. There were already eight different styles, and if Qiao Peipei attended a few more weddings, they could have a different wedding every day for a month when they eventually got married.
Gu Zhijing also secretly took a video and sent it to Gu Junxing. In the video, Nian Suian was holding a basket, walking and throwing candy, smiling happily.
[Gu Zhijing: Dad, why didn't you and Little Mother-Sister have a wedding? That wasn't right of you.]
[Gu Junxing: No need for you to worry about that.]
When they got married, Gu Junxing had suggested having a wedding ceremony, after all, it was a marriage and didn't need to be kept secret. However, Nian Suian had refused at the time, finding weddings troublesome and unnecessary.
Gu Junxing didn't have any objections; not having a wedding indeed saved time, and he left for a business trip shortly after they got their marriage certificate.
Nian Suian didn't know about Gu Junxing and the original owner's situation, but if given the choice, she would also opt not to have a wedding. Simply put, she found it troublesome too, and thought weddings were more interesting to watch than to participate in.
Gu Zhijing sidled up to Nian Suian, "Little Mother-Sister, do you want to have a wedding? I could still manage to be an overgrown flower boy."
Nian Suian looked at Gu Zhijing, who was a head taller than her, and felt a bit speechless, "People don't usually choose flower boys taller than the bride. I don't want a wedding, don't worry about it."
"Why does everyone say I'm worrying unnecessarily!" Gu Zhijing felt wronged, after all, who was he doing this for? How would this family manage without him!
"Everyone? Who else?"
"My dad, of course. I asked him why you two didn't have a wedding back then."
"What did your dad say?" Nian Suian was quite curious too. She not only didn't know why they didn't have a wedding, but she also didn't know how they got married in the first place. Unlike others who transmigrated or were reborn and inherited the original owner's memories, she was completely in the dark.
"Didn't I just say? My dad told me to stop worrying about it. Can you believe it? Neither of you wants a wedding, what a waste!"
"Waste of what?"
"The gifts, of course! Not to mention others, just think about my dad's business partners. If they came to the wedding, wouldn't they give quite a bit?"
"Even if they did, it would be for your dad and me, not for you. Why are you concerned? Wait until your own wedding day, invite all of your dad's acquaintances, and all the gifts will be for you and your wife."
"That goes without saying! I intend to recoup all the gift money our family has given out over the years."
"Lofty goals, good luck with that." Nian Suian patted the shoulder of the little miser Gu, encouraging him.
Since it would be dark and inconvenient in the evening, the main wedding banquet was held at noon. With each dish served, Qiao Peipei's smile grew wider.
"You must finish everything! Don't let my arrangements go to waste."
When the bride and groom came to toast, they spent a long time expressing their gratitude.
"We wish you happiness and a beautiful life together."
The live stream that had been turned off earlier was reopened today, recording the entire wedding.
Initially, the viewers were worried that the wedding might be disrupted by the guests, but that didn't happen. Following the camera, the audience felt as if they were attending the wedding themselves, and now everyone was sending "Congratulations on your wedding, wishing you happiness and a beautiful life" in the comment section.
"Are we going home tomorrow?" Gu Zhijing asked Nian Suian on their way back to the small courtyard after the meal.
"Yes, tomorrow is the 7th."
"Sigh, I'm a bit reluctant to leave." Although Gu Zhijing couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly he was reluctant about.
"Don't get all sentimental now, how's your homework coming along?" Nian Suian reminded him, after all, school would start again on the 8th.
"On such a beautiful day, how can you bring that up?"
"I'm reminding you not to try and avoid reality."
"We'll talk about it tomorrow. I can't write my homework until the evening of the 7th." The deadline is always the primary motivator, no matter when.
"Oh right, the stuff we bought online was picked up yesterday. Let's give it to Mi Mi's mom before we leave tomorrow, we won't need it when we go back home," Nian Suian said. She had asked someone going to town yesterday to bring back the cat supplies they had ordered. "Mi Mi still doesn't have a name. When we get home, you should name it, after all, you're the one who found it."
Neither Nian Suian nor Gu Zhijing knew that Mi Mi was now a little female cat named Nian Hu.
Early the next morning, they gathered in the courtyard just like when they first arrived.
"Thank you all for participating in this show. Our program is coming to an end here. Goodbye." The director was as laconic as ever.
"Director, it's bad enough that you didn't give us proper tasks, but now that we're all leaving, can't you say a few more words?"
This was possibly the strangest variety show they had ever participated in. No script, no planning, barely any tasks, plus a director who was stingy with words. They had somehow muddled through a week like this.
"Because this is life." The director left this one sentence and then walked away.
The cars that had brought them here were waiting outside to take them home.
"Let's go deliver the stuff," Nian Suian said.
After saying goodbye to each other, everyone went back to their rooms to pack. Nian Suian also took out the things and went with Gu Zhijing to deliver them.
As expected, it took quite a bit of back-and-forth before they could successfully deliver the items, and they had to strongly emphasize that they were leaving soon to avoid being invited to stay for a meal.
When they returned, Qiao Peipei told them that Xiao Zheng and Xiao Yan had already left. A car from the Xiao family had come to pick them up, without Xiao Mo.
Early this morning, Butler Su had once again carefully styled his hair, and Nanny Zhang had started preparing food early.
Gu Junxing was in his study as usual, but the financial report that hadn't been turned for half an hour revealed where his thoughts were.
"We're back!!!"